


Lien Into It

by Kiiratam



Category: RWBY
Genre: Anxiety, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst, Money Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 17:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19950421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: When getting food with Yang, Blake finds that her wallet is empty.Takes place around Volume 1, Episode 14. (My BMBLB fic index)





	Lien Into It

Blake peered into her wallet. Maybe if she stared hard enough, lien would appear. No luck. She looked up at Yang, about to apologize.

  
"Hey, no problem, I got it." Yang paid the old man at the till, who grumbled a bit at how long they were taking. He handed over the bag of fish tacos, and nodded at the next customer.

  
They walked away from the taco truck, navigating through the crowds to snag an empty section of wall at the edge of the park. Yang set the bag between them, offering it to her first.

  
Blake took one, and a fistful of napkins, her ribbon keeping her ears from drooping. "Sorry about that. I swore I had a 20." _I'm an idiot._

  
Biting into her own, Yang waved a dismissive hand. _I'm an idiot, and she's too good for me._

  
They ate in silence for a few minutes, Blake trying to figure out where her last 20 had run off to. And trying to figure out how to make it up to Yang. She'd paid for all three of their outings so far, and Blake had offered to pay this time. _And I messed it up._

  
At least the food was good. Even if there were way too many people here for her comfort.

  
Blake sighed inwardly. All the Beacon Academy students got a monthly stipend, but hers just kept... vanishing. Well, that wasn't really true. She knew exactly where it was going - the ever growing pile of books in her room. Back in the White... in the old days, she couldn't afford the weight of books. Two or three, crammed into her backpack, lovingly read and reread. And swapped out when she could.

  
She wasn't exactly proud about how many of those books had been stolen out of libraries and bookstores. But she'd always tried to leave them somewhere they'd be appreciated - a couple of scared kids they'd saved from the SDC, a family whose home had been torched. But now she had the space, and the lien, and she desperately needed the distraction. Idle thoughts turned back to her old life, and the ties she'd cut. Like they were now. _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._

  
"Hey Yang? Can I ask you a kind of personal question?"

  
Yang finished stuffing the last of her tacos into her mouth, nodded as she hunted around for a napkin.

  
Blake gave her one from the fistful she'd grabbed. "How do you afford it? I mean, apart from me mooching off you, you buy stuff for Bumblebee, and Ruby and- how can I be less terrible at this?" _I just don't want to be a burden._

  
Wiping her mouth and fingers, Yang tossed the napkin back in the bag. "I mean, I don't know how much there is to do. Ruby and I both get money from our dad - he's short on expenses, since he's still teaching at Signal, and has cheap hobbies. And our uncle Qrow either gets paid a lot as a Hunter, or he sleeps in a lot of alleys behind bars. Because he also gives both of us a bit, and keeps our magazine subscriptions paid."

  
Blake remembered speeches her parents had given, on how it was expensive to be poor. Basically, the poor (the Faunus, in this particular case) couldn't afford to get good quality things - from boots to houses, and had to spend a lot more replacing them or repairing them. It looked like they had been right.

  
"I mean, after the Vytal festival, you can always find a job, and make some lien that way. That's what Bumblebee and I did last year."

  
Looking around the crowd, making sure no one was listening in, Blake asked, "What, like street racing?"

  
Yang lowered her aviators and dropped her voice into a husky drawl, "Hey, sweetie, you wanna make some real fast money going real fast?"

  
Blake laughed. "Was that what happened?"

  
"Not a bit. I taught a bunch of kids to ride motorcycles, do basic maintenance, train for their licenses. And I get a bit of store credit at the shop by letting them show off Bumblebee every so often."

  
"Oh. That's less exciting than I thought. I imagined you zooming through the streets, sirens one turn behind you. Maybe a rival with a stupid gelled-up mohawk. Some desperate melees in parking garages. You know. Your brush with the criminal underworld when you were young and reckless." _The wind in your hair, that adrenaline smile on your face._

  
"I mean, I did wreck a club once. But they sicced goons on me, so its their own fault."

  
Blake raised an eyebrow. "Was this part of your motorcycle tutoring?"

  
"Uh, no. More of a... personal project, I guess? I didn't get anything useful out of it, though."

  
"Did you punch first and ask questions later?"

  
"Give me a little credit here. I asked questions, they answered, they didn't like my tone, they attacked, I beat them up." Yang shrugged, holding up her hands. "Anyway, lien."

  
Blake nodded. "I just - new books. And I check the Beacon library, but they don't really have what I read. Or the newest stuff, if they do." _I just need the escape sometimes. Often._

  
"You could always ask them if they need a hand in the library. Or you could offer to write things for people."

  
"What, like helping with homework?"

  
"I mean, not what I meant, but tutoring people might also get you a bit. I know you take good notes."

  
Blake sighed. "Yeah, but not next to Weiss. Have you seen how she color codes things, and rewrites her notes after class, and- she just takes _really good_ notes." _She may be a Schnee, but credit where credit is due._

  
"Yeah, but I don't think Weiss needs lien. So you don't have to compete with her." Yang laughed. "You could even ask if you could use her notes to tutor people. She might just give them to you. Flattery works wonders."

  
"You think that would work?"

  
"Why not? Just lay everything out for her, say you're looking to make some spare lien, ask for her help, offer to share the profits. If she says yes, you've got a lot less work to do. If she says no, she's definitely not going to compete with you."

  
Blake nodded. "I'll have to talk to her about it." _I can't believe I'm going to try this._ "Wait, you said that wasn't what you were thinking. What was your plan?"

  
"Offer to write poetry or draw art for people. There was a girl at Signal who had a good business writing sappy romantic poetry for the lovestruck. She wound up offering me a cut, because she had to write so many poems about my hair. I mean, I turned her down, but it was funny. And profitable, apparently."

  
Blake resolved to tear a few poems out her notebook when they got back to Beacon. She said, "Want to head back? It's really crowded." All the noise was making her head ache, and the ribbon wrapped around her top ears wasn't helping.

  
"Yeah, we've got our first test to study for. And you promised to dig out _Ninjas of Love II_ for me."

  
"I'll do that first thing." _It's the least I can do._ "And then talk to Weiss."

  
Yang gave her a thumbs up and started making her way through the crowd, back to where they'd parked Bumblebee. Blake followed. _Why is she so nice to me? I really don't deserve her. She's my team-mate. Deserve has nothing to do with it. You chose her in the forest. I'm just a burden on her. She doesn't seem to mind. I keep secrets from her, from all of my team. If she knew..._

  
_I want to stop hiding who I am. I want to be safe. I need to be safe._

  
Yang, smiling, offered her the spare helmet. She took it, buckled it on as Yang straddled Bumblebee and nodded at her. Blake climbed on behind her, linking her arms around Yang's waist. _Yang makes me feel safe. But she doesn't know who I am. She wouldn't want me if she did._

  
Yang reached down, patted her arms. "Tighter. Don't want you falling off." Blake tightened her grip. _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out. Yang will understand. I don't like keeping secrets from her._

  
Bumblebee roared to life. _Breathe in, hold it, breathe out. I'll tell her. And Ruby. And even Weiss. I can't hide something this big from my team. Just- after the test. I will tell them. I will._

  
_Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._


End file.
